Hot Takes for Filthy Netdeckers: Fall of Argenport

OK FRANDS!!!

New set just dropped, so I wanted it hit you all with another edition of my “Hot Takes for Filthy Netdeckers” series. For those of you who aren’t familiar, this is an article series where I just lay out some ideas for new decks that are more-or-less untested. From here, you guys can pick them up, start working on the lists that seem the most interesting, and hopefully helps figure out what is happening in the new set! I want to stress: I haven not even played most of these decks. I make not promises about how good or bad they are, but that also means that you should all feel totally welcome to edit, improvise and improve! I’m also not going to provide particularly detailed guides to any of these decks. If you have questions, ask them in the Reddit thread! That will be a great place to discuss all this nonsense with everyone else in the community.

For those who don’t follow my podcast: SirRhino and I are reviewing all the commons and uncommons live this Sunday! We will start 10 am EST on his stream. Also check out the podcast I did with SirRhino, LightsOutAce and RNG on the release of FoA!

I think a lot of people figured out that Teacher of Humility was good. I don’t know how we all came to the same conclusion, whether it was the pushed stat line, the game-warping infiltrate ability, or the great support it had access to, but she is the current pick for the most pushed card in the set. As a result, a bunch of time-heavy beatdown decks have been taking the ladder by storm. The Auralian Merchant has also be a smash hit, and the more that I play with it the more I realize its power and versatility. Thundering Kerasaur has gotten a little less attention, but I know that my experiences with it so far have been stellar. This is the mono-Time build of the deck, which I have been enjoying, but the Combrei, Praxis or Elysian builds of the deck are also totally viable. Let’s quickly run through those decks too!

Sand Warrior is a great tempo play, and is stinks to lose it, but Stand together is pretty good I hear. While it sucks to not have an answer for turn 2 Teacher on the draw, this style of deck is not too vulnerable to the taxing effect.

As long as we are allowed to play Heart of the Vault decks like this will continue to see play. I’m slipping in the Magus of Celerity + Wurmcalling “combo” in the deck out of curiosity, but it could easily not be worth it. I have played against Magus already, and it did impress me.

The Elysian build of the deck offers one key advantage over the others: Cirso. In a world where fat Time decks are all the rage, I’m very happy to bring in the big pig to make my opponent’s life miserable. Now, if your are really a big fan of the Pork Father, I’ve got another deck for you!

If we end up living in a world of midrange brawls, a deck like this seems like a viable path to break parity. Cirso’s Cleaver is really power when you can take full advantage of it. This deck could easily be too greedy to get there, but I’m interested in experimenting with this deck right now, as it seems like the time is perfect.

Let’s switch to a very different kind of deck. Chalice got a bunch of new tools, not the least of which was the Auralian Merchant, which fits in the deck like a glove. End of Days is also interesting, given that Chalice can fairly consistently take advantage of Tribute side. I threw in Journey Guide more of curiosity then anything, but it makes sense to me that he might have what it takes to make it in this deck.

Not exactly flashy, but Argenport got a couple of new tools. I am personally really high on the berserk elf, especially in combination with Unseen Commando. Argenport also got a couple of new weapons that are interesting like Vanquisher’s Blade, which I figure is worth trying. At this point is almost seems like the 2-drop slot is too packed for Blackhall Warleader, but if you like that card, this is obviously a great place to try it!

Between Auralian Merchant and Royal Guardian, I feel like this deck got a lot of new tools. It is hard to know for sure how impactful these changes will be, but there is some very powerful stuff going on here if we want to overpower our opponents. I threw in a couple copies of Derry to try them out, but the most exciting inclusion for me is the Novaquake Titan in the market.

Hooru aggro got some serious tools. I am personally a really big fan of Acquisitive Crow, even though it is quite fragile. The combo with Commando is just so good. It is strange that Hooru has gone from a deck with not enough playables to fill out a list, to a faction where I struggle to fit in 4 Svetya, but here we are. There is quite a lot of room to improve a deck like this, so I am curious to see if there is a build good enough for high tier play.

The metagame is currently really focused on Teacher of Humility decks, so this list is probably not well positioned right now, but some day mono Fire aggro is going to have it’s day. I’m convinced that Factory Quota is superb when the metagame is right, so keep your eyes on that. Shugo Standard has been outrageous for me, so be sure to try that out in your aggro decks.

I am quite excited about Rizahn, as well as a few other Rakano cards such as Vanquisher’s Blade and Jawbone Greatsword. I’m not sure if you are supposed to go full Armory, stick to pure Rakano, or how aggressive we should be. I had a chance to try this deck out a bit, and it felt OK, but there is a lot more work to do. I should probably just cave and switch to a Harsh Rule Variant, but I’m going to live in denial a little longer before I change.

Now we are getting into the more… suspicious decks. Jekk is a pretty neat dude, and Champion of Chaos is probably pretty good in a midrange heavy metagame. Statuary Maiden is probably awesome right now, given the popularity of Dawnwalkers, and the relatively low levels of silence. Smuggler’s Stash in this deck is pretty experimental. I don’t think I have quite enough weapons, but it is a good enough for grinding that I think it is worth testing. I’m curious if we are supposed to play the Madness/Combust package given the relative popularity of midrange. Lot’s to work on here.

The more I think about the Radiants/Wisp deck, the less sense it makes to me. Unraveler of Destinies is really neat, but I still don’t understand how this deck is supposed to win. Are we really supposed to just grind our opponents out of the game through stuff like Pathlighter and Soulbringer? I have so many questions. There is clearly a deck in here somewhere, but I think we will need to do a lot of work to find it. I’m looking forward to working on it, even though I find the problem baffling.

That’s it! Once again, be sure to share your thoughts in the Reddit thread about any of these decks, or share your own if like! Lot’s of fun stuff going on in this format, and I can’t wait to explore all of it! Once again, be sure to check out the limited set review this Sunday (July 1st) where SirRhino and I give out evaluation of all the commons and uncommons! You can catch us on his Twitch channel at 10 am EST. Also, you can listen to the FoA Hype podcast I did with SirRhino, LightsOutAce and RNG here!